Zhou Jintang and Lu Mofeng both withdrew their hands. Lu Mofeng’s expression turned sour; it seemed he hadn’t expected Zhu Sha to reject him. Zhou Jintang, on the other hand, was rather pleased. ’It doesn’t matter that she rejected me, because she rejected Lu Mofeng too.’
After about a minute on the second floor, the female guests’ luggage was also brought up. Zhu Sha said, "Everyone, go ahead and choose. I think they’re all nice. I can take whatever’s left."
The rooms were single-occupancy, and the layouts were all more or less the same. Zhu Sha felt that any room would be fine; she really wasn’t very demanding about her living space.
Yun Lan, who had stopped her antics for now, said, "Let’s just go in the order we arrived, one, two, three, four, like that."
No one else objected, so Zhu Sha pushed her suitcase into the first room at the turn of the stairs. The male guests also went to unpack in their own rooms.
Zhu Sha was the first to finish unpacking. As she came downstairs holding a glass of water, Zhou Jintang was just stepping out of his room. Zhu Sha’s eyes crinkled as she smiled at him. "It’ll be dinnertime soon. I’m going to check the ingredients first."
Zhou Jintang rolled his sleeves up to his arms. "Okay. Should we go out and buy anything we’re missing?"
Zhu Sha nodded. "Sure. I see some of the seasonings are missing. I’ll make a list, and we can all go buy them together later."
While the two of them were looking through the fridge, the other guests gathered in the living room. Lu Mofeng sat at the bar outside the kitchen, his gaze dark as he stared at Zhou Jintang.
’We’re both men, how could I not see what Zhou Jintang is up to?’ Just the thought of his ex-wife now being pursued by another man put Lu Mofeng in a foul mood, as if he could eat someone alive.
Yun Lan also entered the kitchen. "Does anyone here know how to cook? I can make some simple dishes."
Ji Ying and Lin Meng smiled. "We can make a few things too."
As for the male guests, Zhou Jintang spoke up. "Let’s divide up the work. Zhu Sha and I will be in charge of dinner tonight, and then we can all take turns cooking in the future?"
Zhuo Yan was the first to respond. "No problem. By the way, who wants to be in a group with me? I can’t cook, so it’d be best if someone could show me the ropes, but I can wash vegetables, chop things, and be a helper."
Lin Meng said, "Then how about you group with me? I hate doing all that prep work."
So, Yun Lan was paired with Huo Feng, and Lu Mofeng was with Ji Ying. With the eight of them sorted into pairs, it was settled that Zhu Sha and Zhou Jintang would cook today.
Zhu Sha had also finished the list. "The kitchen is missing some seasonings. Oh, right, does anyone have any dietary restrictions? Or any allergies? For example, are any of you allergic to mangoes, honey, or peanuts?"
Ji Ying quietly raised her hand. "I’m allergic to peanuts."
Zhu Sha jotted it down on her list. "Anyone else? For example, anyone who can’t handle spicy food?"
After asking everyone, Zhu Sha closed her notebook. "Alright, let’s go shopping. We’ll need to start cooking when we get back. I noticed there aren’t any snacks in the house. If anyone wants snacks, we can grab some today as well."
"Starting tomorrow, everyone will be working, so we won’t be in the house all the time. We probably won’t have as much time to go shopping."
Zhuo Yan was the first to respond. "Okay, I’ll go buy some fruit then."
What could the director do? They could only follow the guests to the supermarket. Zhou Jintang pushed a shopping cart beside Zhu Sha, watching as she made a beeline for the fresh produce section with clear purpose the moment they entered.
Soon, the cart was filled with fresh ingredients. Besides fresh beef, fish fillets, ribs, fish, and shrimp, the rest was mostly various fresh vegetables.
"With eight of us, we’ll definitely need a lot of ingredients." Zhu Sha counted on her fingers. "Looks like we’ll have to go shopping every day from now on."
Zhou Jintang asked softly, "Back at the house just now, you said everyone would be working starting tomorrow. Do you not have to work?"
"Of course I work," Zhu Sha said, surprised. "I just don’t have to leave the house for it."
She chuckled as she spoke. "Trying to get information out of me? The production team doesn’t allow that, do they?"
Zhou Jintang admitted he’d done it on purpose. ’How could I not know what Zhu Sha does for a living?’ He only said it because he wanted to find something to talk about with her.
After a loop around the fresh produce section, they regrouped. Everyone’s shopping carts had at least a few snacks, fruits, or drinks in them.
Back at the house, Zhu Sha and Zhou Jintang were naturally the ones busy in the kitchen. Of the other six guests, some were in the living room, while others went to explore the "love cabin."
Only Lu Mofeng remained seated in the living room, his eyes fixed on Zhu Sha. From the moment he had entered the house until now, Zhu Sha had only spoken a single sentence to him at the very beginning, and not a word since.
She didn’t even leave him an opportunity to be alone with her. ’Has she really given up on me?’
Lu Mofeng didn’t dare to admit this fact. Because if he did, it would make him seem utterly ridiculous, even pathetic.
The main force in the kitchen was, of course, Zhu Sha. But Zhou Jintang wasn’t idle either; he helped her wash and chop vegetables. Though it was their first time working together, they already had a good rapport.
Soon, the dinner dishes were coming out one after another. Lin Meng put down her phone. "This... This smells amazing! Sasha, you’re incredible!"
"Suddenly, I’m feeling a lot of pressure about tomorrow."
Zhuo Yan looked at her. "You can’t do it?"
"I’m just at a home-cooking level," Lin Meng said, raising her hand. "From the looks of it, Sasha is cooking an imperial banquet."
"Not at all," Zhu Sha said with a laugh. "It’s just simple home cooking. Some of these are dishes I tried at restaurants that I thought were really good, so I came back and tried to replicate them."
Huo Feng came out carrying bowls and chopsticks. "You call this simple? You’ve raised the bar for ’simple’ way too high! Lin Meng wasn’t wrong. You’re such a good cook, Yun Lan and I are going to be under a lot of pressure the day after tomorrow."
Zhu Sha replied, "If all else fails, we can just have hot pot. There’s not much skill involved in that, right?"
Huo Feng said, "That sounds like a plan."
As they talked, everyone gathered around the dining table. Zhu Sha took the first seat at the corner, and Zhou Jintang, not missing a beat, sat down across from her. Lu Mofeng looked at Zhu Sha, then at Zhou Jintang, and silently sat down next to Zhou Jintang.
With that, their seating arrangement became:
Zhu Sha -- Yun Lan --- Huo Feng -- Zhuo Yan
Zhou Jintang -- Lu Mofeng -- Ji Ying -- Lin Meng
Zhu Sha paid no mind to the turbulent undercurrents at the table. She had come here to relax and clear her head. Now she had an additional goal: using Lu Mofeng for a kind of desensitization therapy. As for romance and all that, it truly hadn’t crossed her mind.
During dinner, the conversation naturally drifted to other topics. Zhu Sha had never been much of a talker. She just listened quietly, and when she heard something interesting, her eyes would crinkle slightly in a smile.
Zhou Jintang could guess what Zhu Sha was thinking just by looking at her expression. To be honest, from the past until now, Zhu Sha hadn’t seemed to change much. She was like a clear lake, so transparent you could see right to the bottom.
Lu Mofeng was also watching Zhu Sha out of the corner of his eye. When he saw her smile, the corners of his own mouth would twitch unconsciously. But from beginning to end, Zhu Sha never once looked his way, which made Lu Mofeng feel incredibly defeated.